Before time
by AriTeir
Summary: Because some friendships are strong enough to last life times A story of reincarnation and the many forms loves take throughout them.
1. Yangchen and Tai, Aang and Katara

Before Time

Before Time

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or the song 'Before time'

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If the sky opened up for me

_And the mountains disappeared_

_If the seas run dry, turn to dust_

_And the sun refused to rise _

Tai had been crippled from birth, his foot was malformed and clubbed, his left leg shorter than his right resulting in a pronounced limp and the inability to stay on his feet for very long. The local children shunned the young boy in their games and he couldn't keep up with them anyway.

So Tai spent his time in the local temple. No one paid any attention to him there, a cripple boy at a temple well surely he was coming to beg for healing from the spirits. But that wasn't why Tai came, he came to learn. The temple of the Fire Sages was comprised of four inner rings, each holier than the last. The outer ring was dedicated to vendors selling fortunes and offerings to the temples patrons. Tai liked to watch the vendors on the days he couldn't afford to enter the temple. It cost a copper piece to enter the temples first ring. Dedicated to the lesser spirits the first ring attracted the most people, Women praying to the spirit of things lost to help them find misplaced items, Merchants offering ceremonial wine and rice to the spirit of commerce and children praying to whatever spirit would listen for sweets and indulgences from their parents who were most likely busy at other alters.

The second ring was dedicated to ancestors. Richer families paid the temple to erect shrines to their deceased, Tai usually passed strait through the second ring spitting to ward off any evil spirits or ghosts that might be lurking among the shrines every few steps. It cost five copper pieces to enter the second ring.

The third ring was where the shrines of the higher spirits were. Tui, La, Agni they all had alters filled with offerings and tributes. It cost a silver piece to enter the third ring so it was usually relatively empty and quiet. Tai could spend hours sitting in front of the ocean spirits shrine day dreaming and contemplating.

But the forth ring, the holiest and most expensive, a gold piece to enter, was Tai's undoubted favorite. That was where the Fire Sages preached their philosophies and gave out personal blessings, the inner sanctum was also in the forth ring. Tai had never entered it; only the sages were permitted to journey to where the Avatar statues were. But he was content to spend his days listening to the stories of righteousness and the blunderings of the heavenly fool in the teaching stories of the sages.

Because of the price Tai couldn't always make it to the forth ring, some days he couldn't even buy his way past the first. It could take him months to scrounge up enough coppers to make up the sum of a gold piece. And after all of his saving Tai was considerably disappointed one day to arrive at the gates to the forth ring and be turned away.

"No one is allowed to enter the forth ring today by the order of Fire Sage Li Hu"

The Novice standing at the grand gateway to the forth ring announced when Tai approached him. He was only a teenager and had probably only been in service to the temple for a few years. Tai had never seen him before and being that he came to the temple so frequently Tai knew everyone.

"But I have the correct payment"

Tai protested the novice frowned.

"You're just a child. What could you possibly hope to learn from the teachings of the sages? They're far to advanced for you!"

Tai was about to explain that he knew more about the teachings of the sages than the novice when the great gates creaked open and an old man stepped out slowly.

"Fire Sage Sho!"

Tai cried bowing formally as well as he could. The old sage smiled.

"Hello young Tai how are you this fine day?"

"I want to enter the forth ring Fire Sage Sho. But I have been told it is forbidden is this true?"

Tai asked bluntly.

"Yes I'm afraid it is. You see today we have a visitor to the inner sanctum"

The elderly man explained with a small smile.

"Avatar Yang Chen."

Tai's eyes widened. The Avatar? She was in the inner sanctum?

"Really?"

"Of course my lad would I lie to you? She has come to us to reconnect with her past lives. It is a great honor to have the Avatar with us but you cannot disturb her Tai. Come perhaps you should make an offering to La for your mother"

Fire Sage Sho said leading the boy off

"Why would my mother need anything from La?"

"She is a washerwoman is she not? La is the ocean spirit"

"My mother uses well water for her washing!"

"It's still water my boy it's still water"

Tai stayed at the temple in the third ring for the rest of the afternoon. He used his gold piece to buy a bottle of rice wine and an incense stick to offer to La like Fire Sage Sho had suggested. He then proceeded with one of his favorite games, temple watching. Tai found a comfortable shady spot and watched who came to offer what to which spirits. As the sun began to dip lower in the sky bathing everything in a golden glow Tai realized that he should start heading home before his mother worried. He eased himself to his feet and managed to walk a few paces before his leg gave way and sent him tumbling to the ground.

He wasn't down for very long. Dazed and in pain Tai vaguely felt himself being lifted back up he stared into the kind face of a woman with a shaven brow revealing a blue arrow on her forehead, Avatar Yang Chen.

She smiled sweetly at him.

"Are you alright little one?"

Tai nodded instinctively, he wasn't all right his elbows were grazed and his knee ached terribly but he couldn't think of any way to express this to the Avatar. Yang Chen gave him a once over, he looked to be about six or seven, why would a boy so young be this far into the temple? He certainly didn't look like the type of person with a need for divine intervention but then she saw his foot, too malformed and clubbed to fit into a shoe. Her gaze softened.

"Is this why you come to the temple?"

She asked Tai followed her gaze to his deformity and shook his head.

"No that's my mothers reason for coming to the temple. I come to learn"

Yang Chen's eyes showed instant surprise

"A philosopher! So tell me young one what is your name"

"It's Tai"

"I'm Yang Chen"

"You're the Avatar I know I wanted to go into the forth ring today but you were in the sanctum so I couldn't"

Tai explained

"Well next time you shall have to come with me!"

The Avatar smiled gently stroking the boy's hair away from his forehead

"Next time…"

Avatar Yang Chen was selfish. She may have been the Avatar but she was still human and all humans have flaws hers was selfishness. It was a rather unfortunate flaw considering that along with being the Avatar she was also an Air Nomad a race who strove to rise above earthly ties and possessions. Yang Chen wanted many things and she to her credit had denied herself all of them. But the one thing she wanted more than anything else was a child.

She might, had she not been the Avatar, have been permitted to have a child. Most nuns were, it had to be that way, the Air Nomads might have removed themselves from earthly wants and desires but they still needed children and in a complete contrast to what the younger children were told babies did not drift into the air temples while they were asleep on a magical breeze. But Yang Chen was the Avatar, a representation of the Air Nomads, their culture and their ideologies.

Yang Chen still wanted a child and she loved Tai from the minute he told her of his love for learning. One day after meeting him Yang Chen journeyed to Tai's home and told his mother of all the wonderful things her son could achieve if she allowed him to travel with her. She could show him so many things, the great library of Wan Shi Tong, the air temples, far grander than the ones he currently frequented, the great divide. She could train him in his Fire bending, no school would take a crippled boy and Yang Chen was a Firebending master. Tai could become so much if he could come with her.

Di Zhu was a middle-aged woman with a weathered face and hands raw and bloody from the soaps she used in her washing. Her husband had run off rather than live with the shame of a crippled son and that crippled son was all she had. But Di Zhu was smart. She agreed to let her son travel with the Avatar well aware he would not be coming back to her.

It was cruel. But Yang Chen was selfish. She loved Tai like a son and within time as the memory of his mother faded he began to view her as one. Unfortunately for as selfish and cruel Yang Chen had been fate was even more so. Avatars weren't meant to have earthly attachments and fate decided to teach Yang Chen this.

She was asked to come to the tip of the northern earth kingdom where a drought had been raging for six years. Yang Chen wasn't sure what she could do to make the rain come but the position of the Avatar was often far more than maintaining a bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds. She was a beacon of hope.

Tai eagerly accompanied her and quickly made friends with several other children form the surrounding villages. They spent their days in what had once been the reservoir that supplied the towns water but since the drought it had become a dusty bowl. The children spent their days sledding down the slides as though they were made of snow and building tiny villages out of sticks and leaves in the middle. Yang Chen was pleased to see him having so much fun. He even talked her into going 'sledding' with him.

"Yang Chen you've got to try it! It's like gliding on the ground!"

Tai had been in the reservoir when the rains came. The clouds had sprung up from nowhere and with in seconds of their appearance the dusty ground was sodden. All of the children had been in the reservoir as it began to fill up like the bowl it was most of them had escaped it when it burst in waves of water and mud. Tai with his foot never stood a chance.

Yang Chen found his body three days afterwards. Mud filled his mouth and his limbs lay broken and dangling at odd angles his skin yellow his eyes wide and glassy. She shut them gently and held his broken body in the mud crying bitterly

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Katara held Aang's body in her arms her fingers skimming over the burn on his back as they flew away from that cursed city. He was going to die if he wasn't already dead. And she cried gasping sobs as she took the healing water from her neck and molded it to her hands pressing them to the young boys broken body desperately

'We're not going through this again'

Katara told herself with an iron resolve.

It wasn't until Aang opened his eyes long enough to mumble something before falling back into a stable unconsciousness that Katara allowed her self to wonder about why she had said 'again'.

I would still find my way

_By the light I see in your eyes_

_The world I know fades away_

_But you stay._

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STORY NOTES

_A love before time: The theme song to the movie 'Crouching Tiger Hidden dragon' preformed by Coco lee. I am splitting this song among the chapters of this story. I believe it to be appropriate to the theme of reincarnation._

_Tai: is a character I made up although I'm not entirely sure if he counts as an O.C as he's meant to be one of Katara's past lives…_

_Reincarnation: As a Christian I do not believe in Reincarnation. _

_Temple: I read somewhere that many temples worked in the way I have described. I know for a fact that the ancient temples of the Israelites were similar to the set up I have presented; only they worshipped one god instead of many spirits. _

_Tui and La: I'm so confused! I read somewhere that Tui was the ocean spirit then I read somewhere else that La was! I don't know who to believe anymore! Any help you can give me on this would be appreciated. On a side note Tui is also the name of a native New Zealand bird. And are you ready for this? It's black with a white plume on it's neck! They're lovely birds but they mimic the noises they hear. If I have to wake up one more time to the phone ringing outside my window I'm gonna scream!_

_Avatar Yang Chen: Not much is known about Avatar Yang Chen so anything you read here is purely speculation in an attempt to give her a personality. _

_Airbenders: I truly have no idea how Air Nomad society works, from what I've read they're all deeply spiritual and live in their segregated air temples, which makes one wonder how do little airbenders come about when they're all monks and nuns? Surely they have to procreate! Even if it's only for the purpose of procreation! Right!?_


	2. Kuruk and Ummi, Aang and Toph

Before time

Before time

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender

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As the earth reclaims it's due

_And the cycle starts anew_

_We'll stay always _

_In the love we have shared _

Before time

Ummi was the prefect northern Water tribe girl. She was gentle, polite, soft-spoken and above all obedient. She was everything a father could want in a daughter and yet her father could barely to stand to look upon the child who reminded him so much of the wife he had lost by obtaining her.

He remarried of course, as quickly as possible in fact. It wasn't for love though. Some said that after the loss of his wife Yupik lost the ability to love but love or not he was a man and a man needed a woman to take care of his household and to warm his furs. That's what women along with healing were for. So a week after the death of his wife and the birth of his daughter Yupik married Akani.

She was a young woman barely past her marriage age and Ummi had always suspected that her step mother had had her eye on a boy closer to her own age before her father had informed her of her marriage to Yupik. Akani was pretty and sweet and like Ummi hopelessly trapped with a man who didn't love her.

It couldn't have been easy being barely fifteen and married to a man like Yupik with a child who wasn't hers to care for. To make matters worse Yupik refused to consummate their marriage denying Akani the one thing she would ever be considered of worth for, baring a son. It must have been heartbreaking knowing that she was to care for the child of another woman but to have none of her own. She would never be able to hold her head high in the streets.

Akani couldn't however bring herself to hate Ummi; her poor start in life was hardly her fault. Despite what her father thought. So she raised Ummi as though she were her own and taught her everything she would need to know to be a good wife even if Akani had never had to put such things into practice. Yupik seldom came home to his own house any more instead he spent most of his spare time drinking leaving Akani's free of any cooking and or cleaning duties. Beyond the bare minimum of course.

And so Ummi grew into a beautiful young woman and on the full moon at the gathering of the two tribes she fell in love. With The Avatar.

Avatar Kuruk was proud and arrogant and hopelessly charming. Many young women had fallen in love with him and he certainly didn't mind the attention. In fact if anything it made him worse. There wasn't a woman in the Four Nations they said that hadn't allowed themselves to be enchanted by Avatar Kuruk. He was extremely charismatic with a heartbreaking grin and a cocky manor that was simply irresistible even for a sensible girl like Ummi.

The only catch was that while Ummi had fallen in love with Kuruk, Kuruk had fallen in love with Ummi. It was if the Spirits had struck them down with a magical arrow or something. Kuruk proposed to Ummi on the next full moon.

You see there comes a time in every mans life where he decides what it is he truly wants. And what Kuruk truly wanted was to be with Ummi, forever, he would do anything for her, in fact since he had met her Kuruk had been startled to find himself for the lack of a better term, mellowing out. It was a slightly scary revelation, He could remember when, not to long ago, he hadn't been able to walk down the street without looking for a challenge of some sort, something he could show off in. But now he was more than content to spend his time with Ummi.

They were married beside the Spirit Oasis on the next full moon in full Water Tribe regalia. Akani had risked her husband's wrath in giving Ummi her mothers wedding robes. But he wasn't coming to the wedding and would never find out.

Kuruk and Ummi had barely been married a minute when in a sudden chill that seeped into the Avatars bones passed over the constantly fair weathered oasis and Ummi fell into the sprit pool her body vanishing as it was enveloped by the water. Her kind eyes wide and her tweaking moth screaming in pure horror.

Kuruk dived in after her but Ummi was already gone and no trace of her ever being in the sprit oasis remained. He had loved her and now she was lost, even her footprints so light they barely made a mark on the snow were gone.

And deep within the realm of the spirits in a hollow tree stump a black centipede laughed through Ummi's lips as her faceless body struggled along the ground slowly suffocating.

"Don't worry dying is not so bad, you'll get another face. Except, your eyes are so lovely, you don't mind if I keep them do you?"

Koh the face stealer turned to Avatar's wife lying dead among the rotting wood and smirked.

"Didn't think you would,"

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She was proud and arrogant and loved to show off, it didn't matter whom for. She was the worlds greatest Earthbender and no one was going to forget it! And he had kind eyes and footsteps that were so light they barely left a trace on the ground.

Yet still Aang felt a deep chill seep into his bones whenever he gazed into Toph's sightless eyes. They never focused behind those milky films instead they stared into space like they were really somewhere else.

If the years take away

_Every memory that I have_

_I would still know the way_

_That would lead me back to your side. _

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STORY NOTES

_Ummi: I know nothing of Ummi's family so everything you read here as far as her family concerned is non canon._


	3. Kyoshi and Tsampa, Aang and Sokka

Before time

Discalimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender

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_The North Star may die_

_But the light that I see_

_In your eyes _

_Will burn there always _

Kyoshi hated fighting. In fact she just about hated all conflict. The Avatar was meant to be the bridge between the Spiritual and Physical worlds. Kyoshi failed to see how that in any way required her to get involved with petty politics; surely she was higher than that.

So when the Earth King sent her an urgent message, demanding, yes demanding that she come to Ba Sing Se in order to squash the peasant rebellion the First thing Kyoshi did was go to the Southern Air Temple.

If anyone would understand her desire to remain neutral as far as politics and conflicts went it would be the Air Benders. They had always been kind to her at the air temples, unfortunately she had always stuck out like a sore thumb, air benders were characteristically small as children and teenagers Kyoshi had towered over her peers and even some of her teachers. Some of the younger children had even been afraid of her before they realized Kyoshi would never hurt a fly.

It was the children who ran to greet her when Kyoshi finally reached the temple with cries of.

"Avatar Kyoshi!"

One poor little boy fell over his mouth foaming in excitement. His peers stepped away from him with whispers of

"Monk Yan said to leave him when he gets like that"

"Avatar Kyoshi are you gonna come play with us?"

A little boy asked tugging on her robe.

"I would love to but I'm afraid first I must speak with Monk Yan and the other elders"

Kyoshi explained.

"Did you get in trouble?"

A pudgy boy asked in all sincerity while everyone else let out a low

"Oooooooooooo"

Before long they had started chanting

"Avatar Kyoshi's in trouble! Avatar Kyoshi's in trouble!"

Kyoshi could barely contain her laughter at their antics.

"I'm not in trouble!"

She smiled

"Then hows come you gotta see the elders?"

The pudgy boy asked

"Yeah we only gotta see them when we're in trouble"

Another boy piped up.

Women of a more spiritual persuasion would accuse Kyoshi of being empathic but truth be told she was simply over sensitive. She felt things too much and was in the words of her closest childhood friends 'over dramatic' about the whole thing. Yet as she followed the young Air Nomads through the temple talking excitedly about the trip they would be making soon to receive their Air Bison and an upcoming festival Kyoshi was suddenly overcome with hollow sadness for these innocent children and felt like a thief sneaking into their carefree world cloaked in troubles and despairs. She wanted to flee from them and protect them from the world waiting down below their harmonious temple. Of course with several young boys clasping their hands around hers not to mention those who had grabbed fistfuls of her skirt she could hardly make an escape.

The children deposited her at the doorway to the room where the elders held their councils and before Kyoshi could thank them for accompanying her they scurried off with hushed laughter, obviously still believing that she was here to receive a punishment or at least a good scolding for something.

Kyoshi couldn't help but feel as she pushed the grand wooden door craved with lotus flowers and several symbolic swirls open that she was about to receive a scolding of some sort. Was there anyway Monk Yan would be able to tell she hadn't been going through her Airbending sets as regularly as he had ordered her too?

The inner hall was light and breezy with sunshine pouring in through the gaps in the slatted roof with vines creeping along them. Stone pillars curved upwards at the comers of the room, which was completely empty, save for the fountains by the doorway and the five monks seated on the pedestals carved with elaborate patterns. One of the first thing Kyoshi had noticed in the Air temples, especially in the eastern and western ones was that with the mentality that they should not care for their own physical beauty the Air Nomads instead focused their attention on beautifying their homes.

"Avatar Kyoshi Welcome to the Southern Air temple"

Monk Dsuep announced from the middle pedestal bowing his head as he spoke the wooden beads around his neck clacking slightly as he did so. Kyoshi returned the bow.

"Thank you for extending hospitality to me I'm afraid though I didn't come here to make a social call, I came for guidance"

Kyoshi announced.

"What is troubling you child?"

Monk Yan asked. Kyoshi smiled fondly at her old master, her heart almost breaking as she saw how frail the monk had become since she had seen him last. But rather than allowing her emotions to get the better of her, although they did most of the time any way, Kyoshi simply began to explain the situation in Ba Sing Se.

She explained how the peasants were rising against their king and destroying the city in the process, how the Earth king had demanded her immediate assistance in squashing the rebellion and of course how she didn't want to get involved.

The monks offered what advice they could and although Kyoshi took all of it to heart she wasn't sure any of it would help.

But still as she left the hall Kyoshi couldn't help but feel slightly lighter, even if she hadn't got a conclusive answer sharing her problems had certainly helped. She was about to head over to where the children would undoubtedly be playing air ball when with a loud thud a young man crashed down in front of her. Kyoshi took a startled jump back while the young man gave a groan and rolled over.

With a start he sprang up and began looking around desperately. Kyoshi frowned, what was he doing?

"Hey you didn't happen to see a, stick type wing thing crash here did you?"

He asked turning to Kyoshi.

"A stick type wing thing?"

Kyoshi repeated trying to figure out what on earth the young man could be talking about.

"Yeah it's like a stick but with wings, you didn't see it?"

Kyoshi shook her head still confused when something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned to see hanging pathetically from a canopy tree with bare winter branches a staff with wooden braces that Kyoshi was certain were supposed to be nailed horizontally from the staff but now dangled from the main structure held on it seemed by a sheet of fabric, which had branches poking through it,

"Uh is that what you're looking for?"

She asked pointing to the staff the young man turned to look. His mouth fell open and her put his hand to his head in an effort to pull the hair he didn't have while he stumbled over half words.

"Buh, ehn, nghh!"

He ran to the staff.

"Aww man The Universe hates me! Do you know how long I spent making that?"

He demanded.

"What is it?"

Kyoshi asked the young man glared at her like she was stupid

"Well it _was_ my glider and my one ticket out of here"

He slumped to the ground and for the first time Kyoshi noticed that he didn't have any Tattoo's. He looked old enough to have received them, most mastered their elements adequately by their 20's yet this young man obviously hadn't. That would also explain why he was still at the temple. Most Air Nomads left the temples to travel once they had completed their training.

"I should have known it wouldn't work, the wingspan it wasn't long enough and the winds weren't strong but I had to try it you know. I had to see if I could get out of here"

The young man said picking up a stone from where he was seated and throwing it against the wall.

"Why do you want to get out of here?"

Kyoshi asked gently sinking down next to him.

"Because it's so boring! Nothing ever happens here. I swear the most exciting day of my life? The day the lemurs got into the kitchens"

"That is pretty pathetic"

Kyoshi smiled the young man looked up at her with a roguish grin and offered out a hand.

"I'm Tsampa by the way. The worst Airbender ever"

Kyoshi took it

"Avatar Kyoshi"

Tsampa was the worst airbender in what he considered the history of all airbenders. The problem was he didn't _think_ like an airbender. Oh the ability was there, he could airbend, wasn't an air nomad who couldn't but he could never figure out the mentality of his element. He dozed off during meditation; he loved meat and most of all he wasn't accepting. Air Nomads were supposed to accept the state of the world and rise above it, like the lotus flower rises from its muddy roots to the world of sunshine. Well with no offense to his people Tsampa thought it pompous and arrogant.

He wanted to experience the world not forsake it, forget higher callings! What made the air nomads so high and mighty anyway! Not that Tsampa could ever in good conscious call the air monks high and mighty, they were in fact humble and kind but still there had to be a word to describe removing yourself from the strife of the world, and enlightenment wasn't it!

The Air Monks for all their kindness and patience had given up on Tsampa in the end; he was a useless airbender and a terrible monk. So Tsampa kept to himself most of the time in a tower room far away from the rest of the temple, inventing. Well mainly thinking about things to invent, you couldn't call it inventing unless you actually invented something.

Although he supposed that inventing a glider, he could call himself an inventor now. The idea of a glider had come to him one windy day when the monks huddled inside with the novices and even the Bison didn't dare to emerge from their stables. Yet the lemurs, the lemurs were having a ball jumping off their branches and stretching out their wings and riding the wind currents. Tsampa had tried to emulate the lemurs' wings for his own glider confident that if the lemurs could ride the winds then so could he. And he was going to ride them down the mountain and never come back.

It hadn't worked, his glider was in tattered ruins and he was sitting against a wall with the Avatar, the universe just loved to mess with him.

"You're not the only one with problems"

Kyoshi said in a fashion that made Tsampa feel that somewhere along the line the bottle of Chang that the moment surely called for had gotten lost. If there had however been a bottle of Chang present Tsampa probably would have offered the Avatar a bowl of it at this point.

"Really what's bothering you?"

Was all he said instead.

"The peasant uprising in Ba Sing Se, I came here to talk to the monks about it, but they don't have any answers. It's my duty as a citizen of the Earth Kingdom to serve the king, yet as the Avatar I'm supposed to help the people. I don't know what to do. I mean I understand how important the cultural heritage of Ba Sing Se is; it's a magnificent city. Even if I could get the king to agree to treat his subjects better but how am I supposed to protect the city, it's not like I can be everywhere at once!"

Kyoshi explained gesturing wildly with her hands. Tsampa nodded along and suddenly a thought occurred to him his eyes lit up as he turned to Kyoshi.

"You know what you don't have to be everywhere at once! Follow me!"

He led her through a maze of halls through parts of the temple Kyoshi had never seen. Eventually coming to a stop outside what Kyoshi recognized as the infants dormitories. Air Nomad children were taken to the Air Temples as babies and it was the monks who raised them. Tsampa gently pushed the door open.

"Tsampa we can't go in…"

"Relax it's midday all the babies'll be in the kitchens getting fed"

The young man explained opening the door and slipping inside Kyoshi followed. The room was dark as cloth hung over the windows, numerous wooden cribs all carved with symbols for protection and of the element the babies who slept in them would some day learn were lined up in neat rows each fitted with a cloth pillow and blanket. Kyoshi frowned what was it in this room that was meant to help her?

"Up there"

Tsampa pointed to the domed ceiling. Winding their way around the dome in a typical air nomad fashion and breaking off into the wall was a hollow copper pipe.

"You ever lived with a baby?"

He asked Kyoshi shook her head.

"Well I have, my whole life, they're always being dropped off here, mainly in autumn. And let me tell you babies cry a lot. The monks who look after them can't be here all the time of course that's what the pipes are for. They run throughout the temple and carry noise. If the babies start crying they'll hear it"

"So you want me to set up pipes in Ba Sing Se, no offense but I don't think that's going work Tsampa"

"No, no, no you don't get it! You don't need pipes you need people who can listen, like the pipes you don't have to be there they do"

Kyoshi's face lit up.

"Tsampa you're a genius!"

"I know"

Kyoshi spent the night at the temple in her old dormitory; the monks hadn't given it to anyone else in her absence, the bed would have been too large for anyone else. Kyoshi had always been extraordinarily tall. It felt strange being in her old room after so many years away everything was as she remembered it. It was almost as though she had stepped back in time. A knock on the door drew Kyoshi out of her reverie.

Standing at the door his robes rumpled and his eyes still filled with sleep was Tsampa.

"Can I help you?"

Kyoshi asked the young man nodded.

"Let me come with you"

He said. Kyoshi felt her mouth stretch into a frown.

"Tsampa I don't know if that's such a good idea…"

"Please Kyoshi, I'm begging you to let me come. I'm never going to master airbending and you're my only chance to get out of here!"

"What about your glider?"

"Yeah like that'll ever work, it's useless. I wouldn't have asked this if I didn't know that you were my only chance to leave this temple. Please Avatar Kyoshi I don't belong here. I'm begging you to take me with you"

At this point he knelt down on the floor in front of her. Kyoshi felt an instant tug on her heartstrings; she knew what it was like to feel like an outcast.

"Fine you can come but get off the floor, seriously"

Tsampa offered another roguish grin as he stood up.

"You won't regret this"

She didn't. Tsampa became Kyoshi's closest companion. They went nearly everywhere together. He was truth be told much better suited to the world beyond the air temples. He grew his hair out and tied it into a ponytail or as he insisted on calling it a wolf tail. A hopeless womanizer Kyoshi could always find constant amusement in the way he flirted with just about every pretty girl they came across his attempts at wooing were never very successful. Until she took him to her home island and he met the captain of the squad Kyoshi was training to defend her home in her absence. Somehow against all odds Ainuki thought Tsampa's attempts to gain her favor endearing and sweet. The two were married in the spring and their first child was born by the autumn of the following year, an airbender.

Tsampa died three years after his wife left the mortal plain, he had begged Kyoshi to go to the spirit world just to see if she was alright, he was an old man, Kyoshi was even older. But he called her to his bedside after his children and grandchildren had left.

"I have something to show you"

He said gently his voice frail as he struggled to sit up reaching for a staff by his bed. Kyoshi went to ease him back down but he batted her hands away and offered the staff up to her. She turned it over in her hands, it didn't seem like anything other than an ordinary staff.

"Well it's certainly lovely Tsampa but what is it?"

Kyoshi asked gently.

"It's my glider I finally finished it"

"Your glider"

Great he was senile.

"Mei Mei tried it out the other day"

Tsampa said proudly naming one of his younger grandchildren.

"Just press it here"

He reached out and gently pressed a grove in the wood with a slight 'shick' noise wings made out of green material held up by three wooden supports sprung out of the staff. Kyoshi stared at it in amazement, it was so different from the pile of sticks and cloth she had seen hanging from a tree in the southern air temple all those years ago, and yet something about it was so familiar, the wings she knew their shape from somewhere.

"I modeled them off your headband"

Tsampa said with a slight cough.

"Now Avatar Kyoshi you must make me one final promise"

He said sitting up.

"I want you to take this to the Air Temple, tell them it's my airbending technique and that I expect to be buried with my tattoo's"

A week later Tsampa was buried on the island in full Air Nomad regalia his skin still slightly red from where wooden needles dipped in blue ink had finally proclaimed him an Airbending master. Kyoshi draped her hand over Mei Mei's shoulder while the little girl cried her hands clasped around the glider and her hair shaved from her forehead.

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"So Sokka what do you think of my new glider"

Aang asked excitedly dropping down onto the balcony of the western air temple.

"It goes way faster than my old one!"

"I dunno Aang I think I preferred your old one"

The older boy announced.

"What? No way this ones way cooler! It's got a snack compartment!"

Aang demonstrated the snack dispenser.

"That is a good point Snacks are important…"

Sokka put a hand to his chin in a thoughtful motion while a thought rose unbidden to the surface if his mind.

'Why didn't I think of that?'

_Lit by the love_

_We have shared_

_Before time._

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_STORY NOTES_

_Kyoshi: aside from what has been shown in the actual show I have no idea as to Avatar Kyoshi's past so everything here is non canon._

_Air Nomads: just like I have bo idea to the finer points of Air Nomad socicity._

_Tsampa: Tsampa is an O.C of mine and I hop he wasn't to gary sueish. Tsampa is actually a type of Tibetan bread. _

_Airbenders: Before they could attain their tattoos and the title of master Air nomads had tio pass thirty six levels of airbending and invent a new technque. Aang only masterd thirty five but becuase he invented the air scooter he go promoted early and is the youngest airbending master in history. _

_Chang: Chang is a type of beer that originates from countires in the himilayan areas, such as Nepal, Tibet, and Bhutan because rice does not grow very well in such high altitudes the primary crop is barely or wheat, chang is made from this. Traditioanlly it is served warm and in a bowl it is said to be a very warming liqour, although it's name and customs change from country to country. I have described the Tibetan pronouncialtion and serving method. _

_drinking: While I am almost certain the air nomads did not have a large drinking culture the monks of europe did. Many monisteires throughout the continent are still famous for their brews. _

_Ainu: Kyoshi island is said to reflect Japan, I am inclined to think that more acurately it reflects Japanese Ainu culture. The Ainu are an indigunious peopkle of north Japan primaritly hunter gatherers the Ainu are regognizable by their thick course hair which is not at all like treaditional japanese hair. They are thoguth to have roots in northern europe The Ainu have only just been regognized as an offical ehtnic group of Japan and are striving to recpture their cututre and language which due to intergration with the greaer populace of Japan has all but faded. I named tsampa's wife Ainuki as a tribute to the Ainu people. _

_Anyway thats all for now please excuse my poor spelling and puncuation I do use spell check and the like but it can only do so much I am still looking for a beta reader if you thin you could help me out feel free to contact me. I accept critism just please be polite and constructive_

_Ari out_


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